Hercules Panhellenios
Early Life Hercules, was one the most famous heroes of ancient times. He is the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus seduced Alcmene in the guise of her husband, King Amphitryon of Troezen. Thanks to Zeus's enchantment, Hercules was born with the potential for extraordinary superhuman strength, which he first displayed before he was even one year old by strangling two serpents which attacked him (sent by Hera). Hercules obviously never knew his father and when he asked his mother who it was, she would say Zeus and though Hercules never believed her, Hercules’ nephew Iolaus took a liking to his Aunts stories. Hercules had many notable adventures in ancient times. Among other exploits, he was a member of the Argonauts that sailed under Jason along with his best friend Autolycus. During his journeys with the Argonauts, Hercules ecounters the spear-wielding prophet Amphiaraus and the feral warrior Tydeus who become his lifelong friends. Later in Thebes, Heracles married King Creon's daughter, Megara. 12 Labors One Day Hercules fled to the Oracle of Delphi where he asked the Oracle the question where do I belong. The Oracle tells Hercules that he belongs on Olympus with the Gods. The Oracle tells Hercules that to prove his worthiness for immortality to Zeus, he must first complete 12 labors. The next day Hercules sets out to start his 12 labors with his team of Autolycus, Amphiaraus, Tydeus, and his Nephew Iolaus. Hercules and his friends completed the 12 labors which consisted of: 1. Steal the apples of the Hesperides.2. Capture and bring back Cerberus.3. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis.4. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon.5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day.6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds.7. Capture the Cretan Bull.8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes.9. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons(the team marched on their city, and met Queen Hippolyta outside the gates. Hercules was unable to defeat her in battle. Impressed, Hippolyta allowed the men to enter the city. Here he meets the Amazon archer Atalanta, who joins the team on their quest).10. Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra.11. Capture the Erymanthian Boar.12. Slay the Nemean Lion.In the course of these Labors, Hercules provoked the wrath of three immortals who forever remain his enemies. By slaughtering the man-eating Stymphalian Birds, he enraged the war god Ares, to whom they were sacred. In temporarily capturing Cerberus, the three-headed hound that serves as guardian to the Olympian underworld, Hercules offended Pluto, the lord of that realm. By killing the Nemean Lion, the Hydra and other creatures spawned by the inconceivably grotesque and powerful monster Typhoeus, Hercules gained the bitter enmity of Typhon, the immortal humanoid offspring of Typhoeus and a Titaness. After completing the 12 labors, the team felt a sense of accomplishment and Hercules felt like his fate was finally set as he would one day sit on Mount Olympus. When the group returned to Athens, Iolaus begins telling stories of Hercules’ great feats during the 12 labors saying how “the son of Zeus” single handely completed each one with his Labors with his companians as his witnesses. Iolaus was such a great story teller that word of the legend of Hercules soon engulfed all of Greece and its neighboring countries. Murder of His Family As the years go by Hercules becomes the most famous man in Greece as he is loved by every one in every state even having more power over the people than the Kings. Hercules cared nothing about power as he just wanted to live a humble life with his wife and three children. Hercules lived in Athens under King Eurystheus and served as the commander of Athens’ militia. Countries and surrounding states that were jealous of Athens and not afraid of the son of Zeus attempt to conqer Athens; they usually try to scare the Athenian army by appearing to be mythological creatures. Hercules takes out these phony mythological symbols and with it usually goes the attackers will to conqer the powerful Greek state. After coming home from Athens latest triumph, Hercules is drugged by his wine and when he awakes he sees his wife, Daughter, and two sons slaughtered in cold blood; but the most shocking thing is that their blood is all over Hercules’ hands. Hercules is then found guilty of murdering his family and is banished from Athens by King Eurystheus. Walking alone outside of Athens, Hercules is then struck by a lightningbolt. Hercules then meets Zeus face to face as Zeus tells him that it pains him to see his son so emotionally defeated. Hercules then has complete confirmation that he is Zeus son and a Demi God. Zeus tells him that he wants to grant Hercules his immortality and his rightful place on Mount Olympus. A depressed Hercules rejects Zeus and proclaims that he let his children die when he could’ve prevented it. Hercules said that he chooses to live as a Mortal. A furious Zeus then says “you want to live like a Mortal, so be it” and hits Hercules with a lightning bolt sending him back to where he was walking. As Hercules continues to walk, he is then greeted by his friends who have chosen to live in exile with him. Iolaus asks his uncle what really happened and Hercules responds that he doesn’t remember. Neither Iolaus nor anybody else from the team ever asked Hercules what happened again and Iolaus made up the story of Hera driving Hercules insane and in his insanity he slew his family without ever knowing, only recovering when he is cured with hellebore by Antikyreus, the founder of Antikyra. Life in Exile Hercules and his comrades then live as mercenaries and complete various missions throughout the years such as: 1) Defeating the Bebryces (ruled by King Mygdon) and giving their land to Prince Lycus of Mysia, son of Dascylus.2) Hercules killed the robber Termerus.3) They visited Evander with Antor, who then stayed in Italy.4) Hercules killed King Amyntor of the Dolopes for not allowing him and his companions into his kingdom. 5) Hercules also killed King Emathion of Arabia.6) Hercules killed Lityerses after beating him in a contest of harvesting.7) Hercules killed Periclymenus at Pylos.8) Hercules killed Syleus for forcing strangers to hoe a vineyard.9) Hercules rivaled with Lepreus and eventually killed him.10) Hercules founded the city Tarentum (modern Taranto in Italy).11) Hercules learned music from Linus and Eumolpus. 12) Hercules killed the famous boxer Eryx of Sicily in a match.13) They reunited with the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece.14) They killed Alastor and his brothers.During his years in exile, Hercules is tormented by visions of Cerberus. The Tharcian Wars One day, Hercules and his men are approached by Ergenia, on behalf of her father, Lord Cotys, who wants Hercules to train the armies of Thrace to defend the kingdom from bloodthirsty warlord Rheseus. Hercules accepts after he and his men are offered his weight in gold, and the band is welcomed to Thrace by King Cotys and General Sitacles, leader of the Thracian army. After training the army, Hercules and his men lead them into battle against local barbarians as a test of their strength. After the barbarians are defeated, Hercules and Sitacles confront Rheseus and his soldiers, believed to be Centaurs, but soon proven to be men on horseback. Rheseus is defeated and taken back to Thrace as a prisoner, where he is tortured and humiliated. Noticing that Ergenia has taken pity to him, Hercules confronts her and finds out Rheseus was merely retaliating against Lord Cotys' aggressive attempts to expand his kingdom, and, although Ergenia doesn't agree with his methods, she abides to them for the sake of her son, Arius, Lord Cotys' successor to the throne. After receiving their reward, the mercenaries are ready to leave, but Hercules decides to stay behind to stop Cotys, and all but Autolycus choose to follow him. However, they are overpowered and captured by Sitacles and his men. While chained, Hercules is confronted by King Eurystheus, who is in league with Lord Cotys, and reveals that he drugged Hercules the night his family died, viewing him as a threat to his power. Hercules' family was in fact killed by three vicious wolves sent by Eurystheus, resulting in Hercules' constant hallucinations of Cerberus. When Lord Cotys orders Ergenia to be executed for her betrayal, Hercules is encouraged by Amphiaraus to embrace his destiny and breaks free of his chains, saving Ergenia and slaying the wolves with his bare hands. Hercules releases the prisoners, including Rheseus, and then confronts King Eurystheus, impaling him with his own dagger. He is attacked by Sitacles, who is then stabbed by Iolaus. Outside, Hercules and his forces battle Lord Cotys and his army. Arius is taken hostage, but then rescued by Autolycus, who has decided to return to help his friends. In the ensuing battle, Tydeus is mortally wounded while protecting Arius, but fights on slaughtering numerous Thracian soldiers. Hercules then pushes a statue of Hera from its foundations and uses it to crush Lord Cotys and many of his soldiers. The surviving soldiers bow to Hercules, and Arius takes the throne, with Ergenia at his side, while Hercules and his men depart in search of other adventures. Becoming King of Athens After some time, Hercules married Omphale Queen of Lydia and they have a son named Agron. It was at that time that the cercopes, mischievous wood spirits, stole Hercules' weapons. He punished them by tying them to a stick with their faces pointing downward. Hercules and his companions soon leave Lydia and go back to Athens where Hercules becomes king and marries a woman named Deianeira making her queen. Greeks vs. Nords/ Hercules vs. Thor One of the major conflicts Hercules had while king was a great battle with the Viking who invaded Athens from the north and were led by the Asgardian God of Thunder Thor. The battle ended in a stalemate with neither side winning because even though the Vikings retreated back north, the loss of Athenian lives were too great for Athens to ever call themselves victors. After this battle, Hercules changed for the worse as he felt defeated by Thor and the Vikings even though they retreated. The main reason he felt defeated was because he could not prevent the death of his favorite nephew Iolaus who perished in battle. Hercules became war hungry and looked for any little excuse to go to war and do battle with any nation. After the Death of Iolaus he no longer cares about what’s good or bad, right or wrong, he just wants to kill people in battle to honor the memory of Iolaus who only ever wanted to be a great warrior. Betrayl of the Amazons Seeking to punish the Amazons, Ares coaxed Hercules and his men to best Hippolyta and her warrior people. With Theseus in tow, Hercules and his Athenian army approached the Amazon City walls. Hippolyta, trusting Hercules and her fellow sister Atalanta allow Hercules and his men safe passage through the city. They abused the opportunity to drug their hosts' drinks; when all were asleep, Hercules made his play. He chained and raped Hippolyta. Atalanta, who had no idea of Hercules’ plan, fought back againt his army when she witnesses her sisters visibly drugged and getting raped by the army. She was eventually overwhelmed by the army and instead of killing her; Hercules left her to share in the shame of the Amazons. Punishment He then returned to his homeland with Theseus, escaping the wrath of the Amazons. He could not escape the wrath of the Gods. For breaking their oath to the gods, the Amazons were forced to guard Doom's Doorway on the newly made island Themyscira. As punishment for the atrosities commited by Hercules, he was transformed into a colossal stone pilar within Doom's Doorway, and was supporting Themyscira's weight for several millennia. In this stone state he was tormented and scarred by various mythological creatures, feeling the pain inflicted by them but not being able to do anything about it. This was the punishment given to him by his Olympian family for his past transgressions. Redemption It wasn't until several millennia later that Diana, the daughter of Hippolyta and Hercules himself, discovered what had been done to him. She offered to share his burden, which he refused, feeling his punishment was just; although he did seek to apologize to Hippolyta. The Olympians, convinced that he had redeemed himself, took away his burden, allowing Hercules to leave the underworld. Hercules became the first man to set foot on Themyscira, and he immediately begged the Amazons for forgiveness. Though some of the Amazons still harbored hatred for their past rapes and humiliation, most of them were moved by Hercules' newfound humility, and Queen Hippolyta asked her people to search their hearts for the strength to forgive, which they eventually did. Doing so herself, Hippolyta not only forgave him; but shared a brief romance with him before he left the mortal realm to return to his father in Mount Olympus. Now a full god, Hercules took his place as god of strength. In an attempt to reconcile with Hera, he married Hebe. However, like his father, Hercules is a notorious ladies' man. Hercules: The Legenadry Journeys While on his first visit to the Mortal Realm in several milennia, Hercules becomes infatuated with television, film, and movies. He hears of an open casting call while in Los Angeles to play the role of Hercules in a new movie. Hercules jumped at the chance because who is better to play himself than himself. While on a train going to the audition, Hercules encounters and battles the Incredible Hulk. Hercules easily won the role as himself and when the script writer dropped out of the film; Hercules stepped in to write the films script himself so he could portay himself ho he wanted the world to view Hercules. The movie was a success and it was eventualy turned into a globally successful television series. Ruler of Earth While in the mortal realm, Hercules became an agent of Olympus, who occasionally aids Diana and even replaces her in battle. He temporarily set up his base in the Greek Embassy. Throughout Hercules’ travels around the world he constantly sees injusteces going on with Wars and corrupt politics of every country; he soon decides the only way to stop the corruption is if he became the ruler of Earth. The only problem was he was stuck on Olympus. As one of the occupants of Olympus who rejected Athena's decision to remove themselves from the mortal realm, Hercules journeyed to Tartarus in hopes of recruiting Ares to aid him in returning to the mortal realm. Instead he found Circe who, upon hearing the demigod's story and not wanting to spend eternity in limbo with Athena, decided to partner with Hercules instead. However, this didn't last long, as Circe betrayed him. With Diana's help, he was able to capture Circe, only to reveal his true motives: use her magical powers to transfer the power she had stolen and her own powers to him, becoming a new god to rule over Earth. Using the Lasso of Truth, he tried to compel Circe to cast the spell, and Diana encouraged her to answer the question. Circe, revealing that the only way to cast that spell would be to reverse the original spell, returning their powers to their original owners and returning Diana's role as Wonder Woman to her. Diana was eventually able to talk her father down from the idea of being the ruler of Earth. Imprisonment Hercules then encounters and battles Gog (who is killing gods and those who claim to be gods). After suffering a blast from Gog's staff, Hercules is incapacitated.Gog then made it seem that the Deaths of the Gods he killed were actually done by Hercules and Zeus had Hercules imprisoned. Eventually Gog is defeated. Human Once Again After Gog’s defeat, Zeus frees Hercules from his prison and informs him that he must partner with his half sister Cassie Sandsmark. Together Hercules and Cassie try to discover who is attacking the remaining Olympian gods. Soon into their search they are attacked by the Female Furies. Hercules stops the fight by explaining that he's allied with the Furies in hopes of rescuing the gods, or, failing that, starting a new pantheon with them. The Furies have their own plans, though, and are only using Hercules to get to Cassandra. The Furies soon betray Hercules, with Bloody Mary using her bite to gain power over Hercules, forcing him to do what the Furies want. The Furies then kidnap Cassandra's mother to lure her into a trap. Aided by the Olympian, Cassandra goes into battle, being forced to fight her own brother. The Teen Titans and Wonder Woman herself show up to help out, which evens the odds. After Bloody Mary is murdered by the New God killer, Hercules is freed from her spell and immediately saves his sister from being kidnapped by the fleeing Furies. After being questioned by Wonder Woman, Hercules tells her he was freed by Zeus and sought Cassandra for help. He explains that Zeus freed him to help stop "the Great Disaster," which Hercules does not know much about. However, there were two conditions for his release: he must always wear his gauntlets to remind him of his punishment (similar to the punishment the gods placed on the Amazons) and he must give up his godhood, becoming a demigod again. Rather than being upset, Hercules is happy to be human again and having his mother's blood flowing through his veins. Although Wonder Woman is initially skeptical, Cassandra vouches for Hercules, telling Diana that he's saved her life twice. Hercules is allowed to remain free, to complete his "labors" and make up for the things he's done. Hercules continued to do good deeds for years on and off his T.V. Show. Joining the Howling Commandos Years later, Hercules was one of the many newest recruits of Fury's Howling Commandos in order to battle Reed Richards and his Dark Ultimates, who violently started remolding the world. The Howling Commandos made their way to the Maker's base, the Aleph-One, where they assisted the Ultimates in the Dark Ultimates' defeat. The legendary hero Hercules fathered a son, Argo, with an unidentified woman in San Diego, and seemingly abandoned the family after going on the mission with the Howling Commandos. It turned out that when many of the Commandos were killed or injured in battle with the Thunderguard, Hercules was driven mad with grief and rage. For his own protection, and that of others, he was then imprisoned for a decade by SHIELD, in the Mount Athena super-secure facility in upstate New York. Confrontation with Argo When Argo and a new generation of Avengers got past a number of traps and security systems, they encountered a maddened Hercules. Argo, being mad at his father for abandoning him and his mother a decade ago, attacked his father in a rage (Hercules wasn't fighting back as penance for what he thought were his grievious sins). Argo would have critically injured Hercules, had Thunderstrike not interfered. When Argo saw the emotional state his father was in, the two share a tearful reconcilation. Argo stated that he was going to help his father recover, and try to bring his family back together which he accomplished.